For today's apparent do or die meeting between the players and owners, I was going to use REM's video It's the end of the world as we know it. But with Arrested Development getting picked up for ten more episodes and a movie in 2013, I felt this clip was more appropriate (s#!% displayed on the screen a couple of times):
The players and owners are meeting separately and then will meet together and noon eastern. Here we go.
If you're still on the fence about who's to blame for this mess, read all of Tom Ziller's piece this morning. Here's an excerpt:
NBA Lockout Allows Owners To Cheat Fans, Embrace Greed - Tom Ziller
Notice that the NBA is looking to make up all of its losses and gain leaguewide profits on the backs of the players. Sure, Stern has cut league expenses. But he's not asking teams losing money to cut their expenses. The biggest crock of s--t about the whole lockout is that rising player salaries are to blame for the league's red balance sheet. It's logically impossible for that to be the case: leaguewide salaries are capped at a percentage of leaguewide revenue. If revenue grows 4 percent, payroll grows 4 percent. If revenue stays stagnant, payroll stays stagnant.
The good NBA news of the day is that NBA 2K12 is out. I should be picking up my copy soon.
I know I've discussed this before, but can I just say how much I love Derrick Favors' twitter account?
I like everything that's good and not boring
Finally, Golden State of Mind wraps up their statistical findings from last season and gives us the best scorers. Paul Millsap ranks high for PFs,
PRK |
NAME |
TEAM |
POS |
TOT |
INS |
MID |
3PT |
FT |
1 |
Dirk Nowitzki |
DAL |
PF |
5.33 |
-0.72 |
3.11 |
0.43 |
2.51 |
2 |
Amare Stoudemire |
NYK |
PF |
2.75 |
0.77 |
0.01 |
-0.08 |
2.06 |
3 |
Pau Gasol |
LAL |
PF |
2.10 |
0.55 |
0.51 |
-0.19 |
1.24 |
4 |
Paul Millsap |
UTA |
PF |
2.03 |
0.85 |
0.77 |
-0.13 |
0.55 |
5 |
David West |
NOH |
PF |
1.89 |
-0.06 |
1.23 |
-0.26 |
0.98 |
6 |
Kevin Garnett |
BOS |
PF |
1.73 |
0.55 |
1.03 |
-0.24 |
0.39 |
7 |
Chris Bosh |
MIA |
PF |
1.69 |
-0.03 |
0.46 |
-0.32 |
1.59 |
8 |
Kevin Love |
MIN |
PF |
1.36 |
-0.16 |
-1.43 |
0.82 |
2.13 |
9 |
Zach Randolph |
MEM |
PF |
1.22 |
0.91 |
0.04 |
-0.56 |
0.84 |
10 |
LaMarcus Aldridge |
POR |
PF |
1.15 |
0.88 |
-0.31 |
-0.38 |
0.96 |
11 |
Blake Griffin |
LAC |
PF |
1.14 |
2.05 |
-1.57 |
-0.24 |
0.90 |
Dirk is of course head and shoulders and hair above the rest of the PFs listed but Sap is right there. And for his contract, he's a steal.